Augmentations
Augmentations are items that passively provide upgrades for your ship. Every ship can hold and equip up to three of them. They can be bought at random stores for scrap and found through random encounters and quests. Their benefits range from improving stats (FTL Recharge Booster) to granting entirely new abilities (Adv. FTL Navigation) and effects (Reverse Ion Field). Most of the stat boosting Augmentations stack with each other. The ones that don't are grayed out in stores if you already own one (or if all of your augmentation slots are filled). All augments can be sold to any store for half of their purchase price (rounded down). If you loot an augment that you already own and it's not one that stacks, or if you don't have room for it, you are notified and it's salvaged on the spot for resale value. Weapon Augmentations Automated Reloader :Cost: 40 :Sell value: 20 *Cooldown between shots reduced by 15%. *This applies to all weapons, including the artillery beam of the Federation Cruiser. *Stackable. Weapon Pre-Igniter :Cost: 120 :Sell value: 60 *Weapons are now immediately ready to fire upon arriving at a beacon. *This does not apply to the artillery beam found on The Osprey/Nisos. *This only works for the weapons that were powered when you left the previous beacon. *A good tactic is to turn off everything and divert all power to your weapons before jumping away. This way you can "alpha strike" with 3-4 weapons the moment you arrive, overwhelming the enemy. After the initial volley you can shut down the extra weapons and immediately power up other systems to finish off the fight. *The biggest opportunity to purchase this augmentation is in Zoltan Controlled Sectors. *This is the rarest purchaseable augment. Stealth Weapons :Cost: 50 :Sell value: 25 *This augmentation negates the cloak duration shortening effect caused by firing non-beam weapons while cloaked. Defensive Augmentations Shield Charge Booster :Cost: 45 :Sell value: 22 *Boosts the ship's shield recharge rate by 15 percent. Stackable. Reverse Ion Field :Cost: 60 :Sell value: 30 *Protects your ship from ion damage, giving a 15 percent chance to negate all ion damage on your systems. Stackable. (The game incorrectly lists a 20% chance.) Repair Arm :Cost: 50 :Sell value: 25 *Repairs your hull for 1-2 point every time you collect scrap, but reduces scrap collected by 15 percent. Not stackable. *More cost effective early in the game than later when rewards get much bigger. Engi Med-bot Dispersal :Cost: (Cannot be bought) :Sell value: 30 *Floods the ship with Engi nano med-bots, healing the crew even when they are outside of the med-bay (at a reduced speed). *Medbay needs to be powered in order for it to work. *Not affected by Medbay upgrades. *Will not work outside your ship. *Used in some blue event options. *Cannot be stacked. *The Torus (Engi Cruiser Layout A only) starts with this augment. *This augment cannot be bought, but can be acquired by any ship through the Rebel attacking Engi event. Rock Plating :Cost: (Cannot be bought) :Sell value: 40 *Superior hull armor provides a 15 percent chance to negate hull damage (hit systems will still be damaged). *This augment also provides blue options for a few events. These include a guarantee of being able to acquire the Damaged Stasis Pod when the appropriate event is found. Without it, chances are only 1/3. *The Rock Cruiser (both layout A and B) starts with this augment. *This augment cannot be bought, but can be acquired by any ship through the Rock Cruiser unlock event, even if the ship has already been unlocked. FTL Augmentations FTL Recharge Booster :Cost: 50 :Sell value: 25 *The ship's FTL drive powers up 25 percent faster. Stackable. FTL Jammer :Cost: 30 :Sell value: 15 *Scrambles the enemy ship's FTL computers, doubling the time it takes for them to jump. Not stackable. Adv. FTL Navigation :Cost: 60 :Sell value: 30 *Allows the ship to travel to any previously visited beacon. This means you can go back to any 'blue' beacon in only one jump. *Used in some blue events. Misc Augmentations Long-Ranged Scanners :Cost: 30 :Sell value: 15 *Adds additional info about nearby beacons on the starmap. *Allows you to see if a beacon contains a ship or an ion storm / sun / asteroid field before jumping to it. *If a beacon does not indicate a ship in wait, it may still result in some kind of fight, so be wary. Likewise, even if a ship is detected, there may be ways to avoid a fight. *Is used in some events. *Fills you with paranoia. *The Stealth Cruiser (both layout A and B) starts with this augment. Scrap Recovery Arm :Cost: 50 :Sell value: 25 *Allows the ship to collect 10 percent more scrap from any source. It rounds down, and extra arms stack additively. *Provides a blue event option which involves mining an asteroid field. *If bought from a store, it pays for itself after collecting 228 pre-bonus scrap (250 with the arm) if you also manage to resell it before the end of the game. The blue option for this item can come as early as sector 2 and can easily net 30 scrap (the reward range is 18-41 scrap pre-bonus). Since it is quite easy to collect hundreds of scrap in sector 7 alone, this is often still profitable if purchased as late as sector 6. Drone Recovery Arm :Cost: 50 :Sell value: 25 *Active, non-disabled drones will be retrieved at the end of battle, allowing their parts to be re-used. Enemy drones are always disabled at the end of the battle, so they can't be recovered. *Boarding drones are also excluded; once launched to an enemy ship, they cannot be recovered, even if they remain functional. *Drone part costs are mostly eliminated with this augmentation. The few drones that are shot down are more than compensated by the parts you get from rewards. *This is very effective when paired with the Hull Repair Drone, which is deactivated after a random 3-5 repairs. With this augment, jumping to another zone before it finishes returns the drone to you. This means that you can get a minimum of 2 hull repair (or 3 if timed well) every single jump at no part cost. You will also be more likely to have parts for additional repair drones when needed. No more repair costs! Damaged Stasis Pod :Spoiler Warning! :Cost: (Cannot be bought) :Sell value: 15 :"This bizarre alien artifact appears to be barely operational. It has no practical function but perhaps someone can repair it." *This "augment" is used exclusively in a repeatable event sequence in which you first obtain a Crystal crew member and then unlock the Crystal Cruiser. **Stasis Pod: Acquired during a random event at an ordinary distress call beacon which is described as being near an asteroid field. **Crew Member: Need to find a Zoltan Research Facility to study and examine the pod. Frequently encountered in Engi and Zoltan sectors. **Crystal Ship: Researchers will revive the crew member, who will then direct you to an unmarked beacon in the rock homeworlds where you must find the warp point that gives another blue option. A rock homeworld must exist later in this run, otherwise it's not possible to complete the mission. As such, this is one of the more difficult ships to obtain. *More than one Stasis Pod can be acquired and held at a time; each one will occupy an augmentation slot. It is also possible to encounter multiple Zoltan research facilities (even in the same sector), and each one will open a single pod. Ship Exclusive Augmentations Titanium System Casing :Sell value: 50 *Superior System casing provides a 15 percent chance to negate system damage. (Hull will still take damage.) (Stealth Cruiser Layout A only) Drone Reactor Booster :Sell value: 25 *Your onboard drones have their movement speed increased by 25 percent. (The game incorrectly lists a 50% increase.) (Engi Cruiser Layout B only) Slug Repair Gel :Sell value: 30 *Slug ships excrete a thick gel that automatically repairs hull breaches. (Slug Cruiser only) Mantis Pheromones :Sell value: 25 *Your crew's movement speed is increased by 25 percent. (Mantis Cruiser only) *Applies both on your ship and when boarding an enemy. Crystal Vengeance :Sell value: 40 *Every time your ship takes damage, there is a 10 percent chance to break off a shard that flies at your enemy. This counts as a normal missile shot that does 1 damage and has a 10% chance to breach. (Crystal Cruiser only) Zoltan Shield :Sell value: 40 :"An unexplained technology creates this nearly impenetrable shield. Only the energy outbursts from an FTL engine are powerful enough to recharge it." *Upon arrival at a beacon, you start with an additional green energy shield that will absorb 5 points of damage before your standard shields and hull will start to take damage. (Zoltan Cruiser Only) *The zoltan shield will absorb damage from all weapon types, including missiles and beams, but takes twice as much damage from ion weapons. Beam weapons do two room damage to the shield so a Glaive Beam is the only beam weapon that can shred the Zoltan Shield and do damage. *Crew cannot board a ship with an active Zoltan Shield. However, the player's ship will still be boarded if an event specifically calls for it. *Leaving and returning to an area with an enemy ship that has a Zoltan Shield will cause the enemy's shield to replenish.